Another day, another movie...An Inconvenient Truth has been getting great reviews and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature and Best Song (Melissa Ethridge's I Need To Wake Up).
First of all, it's a film worth watching. The message is obviously an important one, and it's an issue that has been brushed aside for too long. (I've always said that if I were ever Prime Minister, one of the first things I'd do is to make Canada the leader in alternative energy source research & development - there's a boatload of money to be made in that industry as we march down the road to environmental armageddon) It looks like the issue is finally hitting the front pages; the question now is: what are ya gonna do about it?
But I gotta say, it made me wonder: is it a documentary? What defines a documentary?
This is basically a seminar/speech put on film. There's only a small amount of footage from outside the hall. I mean, it's not like the filmmakers are documenting anything other than the "slide show". So while I applaud the film, I don't think I'd choose it as the Best Documentary - it simply wasn't hard enough for the filmmakers to produce. When you compare the work and effort other documentarians put into their projects (though I haven't seen the other nominated films), this just doesn't seem up to snuff.
And despite the fact that the message is very important, I'm glad I didn't pay $12 to see this slide show. This is definitely a rental. I do believe, however, that this film should be played as often as possible on cable - get the message out.
One thing that bothered me, though: the film sets out what's wrong with the world and why humans are responsible, but it doesn't say whether or not the trend is reversible. Is it already too late? Even if we curb population growth and emissions, will the greenhouse effect go away?
I mean, can we save the world or...?
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